A USB card is already commercially available, and it consists of a card body which is a plastic body and a USD device connected with the card body. FIGS. 1A-1E depict several samples of the existing USB cards. A common feature of these USB cards is that the card body has a cut-out portion accommodating a USB device. The USB device can be securely attached to the card body or it ca be pivotally/slidably connected to the card body, depending on the aesthetic and design requirements. FIG. 1E also shows a USB card connecting to a USB port of a computer.
The prevailing manufacturing technology of the existing USB card is injection molding of ABS to form the card body. Patterns and labels are direct printed or adhered onto the plastic surface of the card body. Patterns and information cannot be printed on the ABS surface of the body by offset printing; labels bonded to the surface are subject to peeling up.
Due to an overall thickness of at least 2.5 mm, the ABS USB card cannot be embossed. Also magnetic strips or smart chips cannot be embedded into the body, due to the potential overall thickness makes the card non-operates with a regular card reader.
PVC card is also well known as it is normally used as credit cards or membership cards. A PVC card can be applied to more manufacturing technologies, such as embossing, offset printing. A PVC card may also embed a smart chip and/or magnetic strip and/or NFC chip. See FIG. 2. Even embedded with a smart chip, a magnetic strip and an NFC chip, a PVC card can still swipe across a card reader, see FIG. 3. A web key is recently-developed tiny electronic device that can be connected to any reader equipped with USB or mini USB port, such as computers, mobile phones, smart phones, tablets, etc. Once such a connection is established, an internet browser will be pop-up, and a predetermined web page will be shown in the display. As a web key contains no memory therein, it usually has a small size, compared with other storage devices, like USB memory devices. Detailed descriptions of a web key incorporated slim card can be found in the Hong Kong short-term patent Publication No. 1146194A.